1 - Buddha's Marriage (3)

King Shuddhodan was worried to see his son’s sympathy and inclination towards meditation. In order to distract his son from renunciation, he built three huge castles. The Prince was shifted to those castles. Every hour, new and interesting things were sent to him. But, Siddhaarth was not attracted to either of the things. For him, renunciation was beauty.

Day by day, the king remained worried over his son’s behavior. Then, he decided to captivate his son by the loop of love. He organized a festival wherein Prince Siddhaarth felicitated the beautiful young ladies of the town.

Various young women flocked the assembly. One by one, they went up to the Prince. The Prince gave the gifts to each one of them. But, he didn’t even cast a glance on the women. No one could succeed in attracting him. Later, when the last lady came up for her present, the Prince was left with nothing to offer. She looked at the Prince with expectation. Siddhaarth immediately removed a garland from his neck and gave it to her. The sight of that beautiful lady captivated him. Her name was Yashodharaa. She was the daughter of Dandpaanini, who in turn was the brother of Siddhaarth’s mother Mahaamaayaa. Both, Siddhaarth and Yashodharaa were attracted towards each other. She went away with the garland and the Prince got busy with his work.

When the King got this news, he was thrilled. He immediately sent his family priest to meet Dandpaanini and place the proposal of his son’s marriage with Yashodharaa. Dandpaanini said that according to the tradition of his kingdom, the Prince had to participate in a competition of combat and to defeat the opponents. Only then, he could marry Yashodharaa.

The priest conveyed the news to king Shuddhodan. The King was disheartened by the news because his son was totally aloof to the knowledge of bows and arrows, horse riding, etc. He felt that the match of Siddhaarth and Yashodharaa was not possible anymore. Seeing his father’s distress, Siddhaarth said, " Don’t worry father. Being from a Kshatriya clan, combat is not a problem for me. I don’t want to lose Yashodharaa due to such an insignificant reason. You may decide the date of the competition at your will." When the date of the event was decided, all the participants reached there. Siddhaarth glanced at Yashodharaa and addressed all the participants, "This gem of a lady deserves no less than the best among us. Those who think that they fulfill this condition may come forward and compete with me."

First of all, Nand came forward and accepted the challenge. He took up a bow and shot an arrow at a drum kept six miles away. Next was Devadatt, who shot the arrow to a greater distance accurately. Then, Siddhaarth came forward and took up a big bow. But as he pulled at the bows strings, the bow broke into two pieces. He mocked aloud, " Is there not even a single bow suitable for me ?" Then, an ancient bow made of iron called ‘Sinhaans’ was brought. That bow had never been used. The other participants couldn’t even pull the strings. Then, Prince Siddhaarth smilingly tied the bow strings and shot an arrow. It surpassed all the previously shot arrows.

Next began the battle of swordsmanship. Nand chopped on a six-inch thick tree with his sword. Devadatt went one step ahead and chopped a seven-inch tree. However, Siddhaarth stole the show by cutting two trees, which were nine inches thick, at a single stroke.

This was followed by a horse-riding contest. A bonded horse was brought for this. Nand and Devadatt tried hard to tame the horse but in vain. Then, Siddhaarth tried his hand at it. He came forward, fondled the horse and released it from its shackles. The horse was pacified. He calmly climbed atop and rode it with style.

The Prince was hailed by one and all. He was proclaimed the winner. All the contestants accepted his superiority and conceded defeat. Dandpaanini was overjoyed at the result and he gave his daughter’s hand to Siddhaarth. She garlanded Siddhaarth and greeted him. Some days later, their marriage was solemnized.

[This information is taken from "Buddha"]